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The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella The Catholic, V3

W >> William H. Prescott >> The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella The Catholic, V3




[85] Compare, for example, the accounts of the environs of Toledo and
Madrid, the two most considerable cities in Castile, by ancient and modern
travellers. One of the most intelligent and recent of the latter, in his
journey between these two capitals, remarks, "There is sometimes a visible
track, and sometimes none; most commonly we passed over wide sands. The
country between Madrid and Toledo, I need scarcely say, is ill peopled and
ill cultivated; for it is all a part of the same arid plain, that
stretches on every side around the capital; and which is bounded on this
side by the Tagus. The whole of the way to Toledo, I passed through only
four inconsiderable villages; and saw two others at a distance. A great
part of the land is uncultivated, covered with furze and aromatic plants;
but here and there some corn land is to be seen." (Inglis, Spain in 1830,
vol. i. p. 366.) What a contrast does all this present to the language of
the Italians, Navagiero and Marineo, in whose time the country around
Toledo "surpassed all other districts of Spain, in the excellence and
fruitfulness of the soil;" which, "skilfully irrigated by the waters of
the Tagus, and minutely cultivated, furnished every variety of fruit and
vegetable produce to the neighboring city." While, instead of the sunburnt
plains around Madrid, it is described as situated "in the bosom of a fair
country, with an ample territory, yielding rich harvests of corn and wine,
and all the other aliments of life." Cosas Memorables, fol. 12, 13.--
Viaggio, fol. 7, 8.

[86] Capmany has well exposed some of these extravagances. (Mem. de
Barcelona, tom. in. part. 3, cap. 2.) The boldest of them, however, may
find a warrant in the declarations of the legislature itself. "En los
lugares de obrages de lanas," asserts the cortes of 1594, "donde se solian
labrar veinte y treinta mil arrobas, no se labran hoi seis, y donde habia
señores de ganado de grandísima cantidad, han disminuido en la misma y
mayor proporcion, acaeciendo lo mismo en todas las otras cosas del
comercio universal y particular. Lo cual hace que no haya ciudad de las
principales destos réinos ni lugar ninguno, de donde no falte notable
vecindad, como se echa bien de ver en la muchedumbre de casas que estan
cerradas y despobladas, y en la baja que han dado los arrendamientos de
las pocas que se arriendan y habitan." Apud Mem. de la Acad. de Hist, tom.
vi. p. 304.

[87] A point which most writers would probably agree in fixing at 1700,
the year of Charles II.'s death, the last and most imbecile of the
Austrian dynasty. The population of the kingdom at this time, had dwindled
to 6,000,000. See Laborde, (Itinéraire, tom. vi. pp. 125, 143, ed. 1830),
who seems to have better foundation for this census than for most of those
in his table.

[88] See the unequivocal language of cortes, under Philip II. (supra.)
With every allowance, it infers an alarming decline in the prosperity of
the nation.

[89] One has only to read, for an evidence of this, the lib. 6, tit. 18,
of the "Nueva Recopilacion," on "cosas prohibidas;" the laws on gilding
and plating, lib. 5, tit. 24; on apparel and luxury, lib. 7, tit. 12; on
woollen manufactures, lib. 7, tit. 14-17, et legas al. Perhaps no stronger
proof of the degeneracy of the subsequent legislation can be given, than
by contrasting it with that of Ferdinand and Isabella in two important
laws. 1. The sovereigns, in 1492, required foreign traders to take their
returns in the products and manufactures of the country. By a law of
Charles V., 1552, the exportation of numerous domestic manufactures was
prohibited, and the foreign trader, in exchange for domestic wool, was
required to import into the country a certain amount of linen and woollen
fabrics. 2. By an ordinance, in 1500, Ferdinand and Isabella prohibited
the importation of silk thread from Naples, to encourage its production at
home. This appears from the tenor of subsequent laws to have perfectly
succeeded. In 1552, however, a law was passed, interdicting the export of
manufactured silk, and admitting the importation of the raw material. By
this sagacious provision, both the culture of silk, and the manufacture
were speedily crushed in Castile.

[90] See examples of these, in the reigns of Henry III., and John II,
(Recop. de las Leyes, tom. ii. fol. 180, 181.) Such also were the numerous
tariffs fixing the prices of grain, the vexatious class of sumptuary laws,
those for the regulation of the various crafts, and, above, all, on the
exportation of the precious metals.

[91] The English Statute Book alone will furnish abundant proof of this,
in the exclusive regulations of trade and navigation existing at the close
of the fifteenth century. Mr. Sharon Turner has enumerated many, under
Henry VIII., of similar import with, and, indeed, more partial in their
operation than, those of Ferdinand and Isabella. History of England, vol.
iv. pp. 170 et seq.

[92] Ordenanças Reales, lib. 6, tit. 4, ley 6.

[93] Archivo de Simancas; in which most of these ordinances appear to be
registered. Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 11.

[94] "Ennoblescense los cibdades é villas en tener casas grandes é bien
fechas en que fragan sus ayuntamientos é concejos," etc. (Ordenanças
Reales, lib. 7, tit. 1, ley 1.) Señor Clemencin has specified the nature
and great variety of these improvements, as collected from the archives of
the different cities of the kingdom. Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi.
Ilustracion ll.--Col. de Cédulas, tom. iv. no. 9.

[95] Pragmáticas del Reyno, fol. 63. 91, 93.--Recop. de las Leyes, lib. 5,
tit. 11, ley 12.--Among the acts for restricting monopolies may be
mentioned one, which prohibited the nobility and great landholders from
preventing their tenants' opening inns and houses of entertainment without
their especial license. (Pragmáticas del Reyno, 1492, fol. 96.) The same
abuse, however, is noticed by Mad. d'Aulnoy, in her "Voyage d'Espagne," as
still existing, to the great prejudice of travellers, in the seventeenth
century. Dunlop, Memoirs of Philip IV. and Charles II., vol. ii. chap. 11.

[96] Pragmáticas del Reyno, fol. 93-112.--Recop. de las Leyes, lib. 5,
tit. 21, 22.

[97] "Ut nulla unquam per se tuta regio, tutiorem se fuisse jactare
possit." Opus Epist., epist. 31.

[98] For various laws tending to secure this, and prevent frauds in trade,
see Ordenanças Reales, lib. 3, tit. 8, ley 5.--Pragmáticas del Reyno, fol.
45, 66, 67, et alibi.--Col. de Cédulas, tom. i. no. 63.

[99] The fullest, though a sufficiently meagre, account of the Navarrese
constitution, is to be found in Capmany's collection, "Práctica y Estilo,"
(pp. 250-258,) and in the "Diccionario Geográfico Hist, de España," (tom.
ii. pp. 140-143.) The historical and economical details in the latter are
more copious.

[100] "Queste furono," says Giannone, "le prime leggi che ci diedero gli
Spagnuoli: leggi tutte provvide e savie, nello stabilir delle quali furono
veramente gli Spagnuoli più d' ogni altra nazione avveduti, e più esatti
imitatori de' Romani." Istoria di Napoli, lib. 30, cap. 5.

[101] Giannone, Istoria di Napoli, lib. 29, cap. 4; lib. 30, cap. 1, 2,
5.--Signorelli, Coltura nelle Sicilie, tom. iv. p. 84.--Every one knows
the persecutions, the exile, and long imprisonment, which Giannone
suffered for the freedom with which he treated the clergy, in his
philosophical history. The generous conduct of Charles of Bourbon to his
heirs is not so well known. Soon after his accession to the throne of
Naples, that prince settled a liberal pension on the son of the historian,
declaring, that "it did not comport with the honor and dignity of the
government, to permit an individual to languish in indigence, whose parent
had been the greatest man, the most useful to the state, and the most
unjustly persecuted, that the age had produced." Noble sentiments, giving
additional grace to the act which they accompanied. See the decree, cited
by Corniani, Secoli della Letteratura Italiana, (Brescia, 1804-1813,) tom.
ix. art. 15.

[102] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 6, cap. 18.--According to
Martyr, the two mints of Hispaniola yielded 300,000 lbs. of gold annually.
De Rebus Oceanicis, dec. 1, lib. 10.

[103] The pearl fisheries of Cuhagua were worth 75,000 ducats a year.
Herrera, Indian Occidentales, dec 1, lib 7, cap. 9.

[104] Oviedo, Historia Natural de las Indias, lib. 4, cap. 8.--Gomez, De
Rebus Gestis, fol. 165.

[105] Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. iii. documentos 1-13.--Herrera,
Indias Occidentales, dec. 1. lib. 7, cap. 1.

[106] Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. iii. pp. 48, 134.

[107] Bernardin de Santa Clara, treasurer of Hispaniola, amassed, during a
few years' residence there, 96,000 ounces of gold. This same _nouveau
riche_ used to serve gold dust, says Herrera, instead of salt, at his
entertainments. (Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 7, cap. 3.) Many
believed, according to the same author, that gold was so abundant, as to
be dragged up in nets from the beds of the rivers! Lib. 10, cap. 14.

[108] Ante, Part II., Chapter 24.--Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1,
lib. 10, cap. 6, 7.

[109] "Per esser Sevilla nel loco che è, vi vanno tanti di loro alle
Indie, che la città resta mal popolata, e quasi in man di donne."
(Navagiero, Viaggio, fol. 15.) Horace said, fifteen centuries before,

"_Impiger extremes curris mercator ad Indos,
Per mare pauperiem fugieus, per saxa, per ignes._"
_Epist. i. 1._

[110] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 9, cap. 10.--Almost all
the Spanish expeditions in the New World, whether on the northern or
southern continent, have a tinge of romance, beyond what is found in those
of other European nations. One of the most striking and least familiar of
them is that of Ferdinand de Soto, the ill-fated discoverer of the
Mississippi, whose bones bleach beneath its waters. His adventures are
told with uncommon spirit by Mr. Bancroft, vol. i. chap. 2, of his History
of the United States.

[111] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 2, lib. 1, cap. 7.

[112] The life of this daring cavalier forms one in the elegant series of
national biographies by Quintana, "Vidas de Espanoles Celebres," (tom. ii.
pp. 1-82), and is familiar to the English reader in Irving's "Companions
of Columbus." The third volume of Navarrete's laborious compilation is
devoted to the illustration of the minor Spanish voyagers, who followed up
the bold track of discovery, between Columbus and Cortes. Coleccion de
Viages.

[113] Las Casas, Mémoires, Oeuvres, ed. de Llorente, tom. i. p. 189.

[114] "Y crean (Vuestras Altezas) questa isla y todas las otras son asi
suyas corao Castilla, que aqui no falta salvo asiento y mandarles hacer lo
que quisieren." Primera Carta de Colon, apud Navarrete, Coleccion de
Viages, tom. i. p. 93.

[115] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 8, cap. 9.--Las Casas,
Oeuvres, ed. de Llorente, tom. i. pp. 228, 229.

[116] See the various Memorials of Las Casas, some of them expressly
prepared for the council of the Indies. He affirms, that more than
12,000,000 lives were wantonly destroyed in the New World, within thirty-
eight years after the discovery, and this in addition to those
exterminated in the conquest of the country. (Oeuvres, ed. de Llorente,
tom. i. p. 187.) Herrera admits that Hispaniola was reduced, in less than
twenty-five years, from 1,000,000 to 14,000 souls. (Indias Occidentales,
dec. 1. lib. 10, cap. 12.) The numerical estimates of a large savage
population, must, of course, be in a great degree hypothetical. That it
was large, however, in these fair regions, may readily be inferred from
the facilities of subsistence, and the temperate habits of the natives.
The minimum sum in the calculation, when the number had dwindled to a few
thousand, might be more easily ascertained.

[117] Oeuvres, ed. de Llorente, tom. i. p. 228.

[118] One resident at the court, says the bishop of Chiapa, was proprietor
of 800, and another of 1100 Indians. (Oeuvres, ed. de Llorente, tom. i. p.
238.) We learn their names from Herrera. The first was Bishop Fonseca, the
latter the comendador Conchillos, both prominent men in the Indian
department. (Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 9, cap. 14.) The last-named
person was the same individual sent by Ferdinand to his daughter in
Flanders, and imprisoned there by the archduke Philip. After that prince's
death, he experienced signal favors from the Catholic king, and amassed
great wealth as secretary of the Indian board. Oviedo has devoted one of
his dialogues to him. Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 3, dial. 9.

[119]The Dominican and other missionaries, to their credit be it told,
labored with unwearied zeal and courage for the conversion of the natives,
and the vindication of their natural rights. Yet these were the men, who
lighted the fires of the Inquisition in their own land. To such opposite
results may the same principle lead, under different circumstances!

[120] Las Casas concludes an elaborate memorial, prepared for the
government, in 1542, on the best means of arresting the destruction of the
aborigines, with two propositions. 1. That the Spaniards would still
continue to settle in America, though slavery were abolished, from the
superior advantages for acquiring riches it offered over the Old World. 2.
That if they would not, this would not justify slavery, since "_God
forbids us to do evil that good may come of it_." Rare maxim, from a
Spanish churchman of the sixteenth century! The whole argument, which
comprehends the sum of what has been since said more diffusely in defence
of abolition, is singularly acute and cogent. In its abstract principles
it is unanswerable, while it exposes and denounces the misconduct of his
countrymen, with a freedom which shows the good bishop knew no other fear
than that of his Maker.

[121] Recop. de Leyes de las Indias, August 14th, 1509, lib. 6, tit. 8,
ley l.--Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 9, cap. 14.

[122] The text expresses nearly enough the subsequent condition of things
in Spanish America. "No government," says Heeren, "has done so much for
the aborigines as the Spanish." (Modern History, Bancroft's trans., vol.
i. p. 77.) Whoever peruses its colonial codes, may find much ground for
the eulogium. But are not the very number and repetition of these humane
provisions sufficient proof of their inefficacy?

[123] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 2, lib. 2, cap. 3.--Las Casas,
Mémoire, apud Oeuvres, ed. de Llorente, tom. i. p. 239.

[124] In the remarkable discussion between the doctor Sepulveda and Las
Casas, before a commission named by Charles V., in 1550, the former
vindicated the persecution of the aborigines by the conduct of the
Israelites towards their idolatrous neighbors. But the Spanish Fenelon
replied, that "the behavior of the Jews was no precedent for Christians;
that the law of Moses was a law of rigor; but that of Jesus Christ, one of
grace, mercy, peace, good-will, and charity." (Oeuvres, ed. de Llorente,
tom. i. p. 374.) The Spaniard first persecuted the Jews, and then quoted
them as an authority for persecuting all other infidels.

[125] It is only necessary to notice the contemptuous language of Philip
II.'s laws, which designate the most useful mechanic arts, as those of
blacksmiths, shoemakers, leather-dressers, and the like, as "_oficios
viles y baxos_."

A whimsical distinction prevails in Castile, in reference to the more
humble occupations. A man of gentle blood may be a coachman, lacquey,
scullion, or any other menial, without disparaging his nobility, which is
said to _sleep_ in the mean while. But he fixes on it an indelible
stain, if he exercises any mechanical vocation. "Hence," says Capmany, "I
have often seen a village in this province, in which the vagabonds,
smugglers, and hangmen even, were natives, while the farrier, shoemaker,
etc., was a foreigner." (Mem. de Barcelona, tom. i. part. 3, p. 40; tom.
iii. part. 2, pp. 317, 318.) See also some sensible remarks on the
subject, by Blanco White, the ingenious author of Doblado's Letters from
Spain, p. 44.

[126] "The interval between the acquisition of money, and the rise of
prices," Hume observes," is the only time when increasing gold and silver
are favorable to industry." (Essays, part 2, essay 3.) An ordinance of
June 13th, 1497, complains of the scarcity of the precious metals, and
their insufficiency to the demands of trade. (Pragmáticas del Reyno, fol.
93.) It appears, however, from Zuñiga, that the importation of gold from
the New World began to have a sensible effect on the prices of
commodities, from that very year. Annales de Sevilla, p. 415.

[127] Mr. Turner has made several extracts from the Harleian MSS., showing
that the trade of Castile with England was very considerable in Isabella's
time. (History of England, vol. iv. p. 90.) A pragmatic of July 21st,
1494, for the erection of a consulate at Burgos, notices the commercial
establishments in England, France, Italy, and the Low Countries. This
tribunal, with other extensive privileges, was empowered to hear and
determine suits between merchants; "which," says the plain spoken
ordinance, "in the hands of lawyers are never brought to a close; porque
se presentauan escritos y libelos de letrados de manera que por mal pleyto
que fuesse le sostenian los letrados de manera que _los hazian
immortales_." (Pragmáticas del Reyno, fol. 146-148.) This institution
rose soon to be of the greatest importance in Castile.

[128] The sixth volume of the Memoirs of the Academy of History contains a
schedule of the respective revenues afforded by the cities of Castile, in
the years 1477, 1482, and 1504; embracing, of course, the commencement and
close of Isabella's reign. The original document exists in the archives of
Simancas. We may notice the large amount and great increase of taxes in
Toledo, particularly, and in Seville; the former thriving from its
manufactories, and the latter from the Indian trade. Seville, in 1504,
furnished near a tenth of the whole revenue. Ilustracion 5.

[129] "No ay en ella," says Marineo of the latter city, "gente ociosa, ni
baldia, sino que todos trabajan, ansi mugeres como hombres, y los chicos
como los grandes, buscando la vida con sus manos, y con sudores de sus
carnes. Unos exercitan las artes mecánicas: y otros las liberales. Los que
tratan las mercaderias, y hazen rica la ciudad, son muy fieles, y
liberales." (Cosas Memorables, fol. 16.) It will not be easy to meet, in
prose or verse, with a finer colored picture of departed glory, than Mr.
Slidell has given of the former city, the venerable Gothic capital, in his
"Year in Spain," chap. 12.

[130] Sandoval, Hist. del Emp. Carlos V., tom. i. p. 60.

[131] It was a common saying in Navagiero's time, "Barcelona la ricca,
Saragossa la barta, Valentia la hermosa." (Viaggio, fol. 5.) The grandeur
and commercial splendor of the first-named city, which forms the subject
of Capmany's elaborate work, have been sufficiently displayed in Part I.,
Chapter 2, of this History.

[132] "_Algunos suponen_," says Capmany, "que estas ferias eran ya
famosas en tiempo de los Reyes Católicos," etc. (Mem. de Barcelona, tom.
iii. p. 356.) A very cursory glance at the laws of this time, will show
the reasonableness of the supposition. See the Pragmáticas, fol. 146, and
the ordinances from the archives of Simancas, apud Mem. de Acad., tom. vi.
pp. 249, 252, providing for the erection of buildings and other
accommodations for the "great resort of traders." In 1520, four years
after Ferdinand's death, the city, in a petition to the regent,
represented the losses sustained by its merchants in the recent fire, as
more than the revenues of the crown would probably be able to meet for
several years. (Ibid., p. 264.) Navagiero, who visited Medina some six
years later, when it was rebuilt, bears unequivocal testimony to its
commercial importance. "Medina è buona terra, e piena di buone case,
abondante assai se non che le tante ferie che se vi fanno ogn' anno, e il
concorso grande che vi è di tutta Spagna, fanno pur che il tutto si paga
più di quel che si faria.... La feria è abondante certo di molte cose, ma
sopra tutto di speciarie assai, che vengono di Portogallo; ma le maggior
faccende che se vi facciano sono cambij." Viaggio, fol. 36.

[133]

"Quien no vió á Sevilla No vió maravilla."

The proverb, according to Zuñiga, is as old as the time of Alonso XI.
Annales de Sevilla, p. 183.

[134] The most eminent sculptors were, for the most part, foreigners;--as
Miguel Florentin, Pedro Torregiano, Felipe de Borgoña,--chiefly from
Italy, where the art was advancing rapidly to perfection in the school of
Michael Angelo. The most successful architectural achievement was the
cathedral of Granada, by Diego de Siloe. Pedraza, Antiguedad de Granada,
fol. 82.--Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 16.

[135] At least so says Clemencin, a competent judge. "Desde los mismos
principios de su establecimiento fue mas comun la imprenta en España que
lo es al cabo de trescientos años dentro ya del siglo décimonono." Elogio
de Doña Isabel, Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi.

[136] Ante, Introduction, Sect. 2; Part 1., Chapter 19; Part II., Chapter
21.--The "Pragmáticas del Reyno" comprises various ordinances, defining
the privileges of Salamanca and Valladolid, the manner of conferring
degrees, and of election to the chairs of the universities, so as to
obviate any undue influence or corruption. (Fol. 14-21.) "Porque," says
the liberal language of the last law, "los estudios generales donde las
ciencias se leen y aprenden effuerçan las leyes y fazen a los nuestros
subditos y naturales sabidores y honrrados y acrecientan virtudes: y
porque en el dar y assignar de las cátedras salariadas deue auer toda
libertad porque sean dadas á personas sabidores y cientes." (Taraçona,
October 5th, 1495.) If one would see the totally different principles on
which such elections have been conducted in modern times, let him read
Doblado's Letters from Spain, pp. 103-107. The university of Barcelona was
suppressed in the beginning of the last century. Laborde has taken a brief
survey of the present dilapidated condition of the others, at least as it
was in 1830, since which it can scarcely have mended. Itinéraire, tom. vi.
p. 144, et seq.

[137] See the concluding note to this chapter.

Erasmus, in a lively and elegant epistle to his friend, Francis Vergara,
Greek professor at Alcalá, in 1527, lavishes unbounded panegyric on the
science and literature of Spain, whose palmy state he attributes to
Isabella's patronage, and the co-operation of some of her enlightened
subjects. "----Hispaniae vestrae, tanto successu, priscam eruditionis
gloriam sibi postliminiò vindicanti. Quae quum semper et regionis
amoenitate fertilitaléque, semper ingeniorum eminentium ubere proventu,
semper bellicâ laude floruerit, quid desiderari poterat ad summam
felicitatem, nisi ut studiorum et religionis adjungeret ornamenta, quibus
aspirante Deo sic paucis annis effloruit ut caeteris regionibus quamlibet
hoc decorum genere praecellentibus vel invidiae queat esse vel exemplo....
Vos istam felicitatem secundum Deum debetis laudatissimae Reginarum
Elisabetae, Francisco Cardinali quondam, Alonso Fonsecae nunc
Archiepiscopo Toletano, et si qui sunt horum similes, quorum autoritas
tuetur, benignitas alit fovetque bonas artes." Epistolae, p. 978.

[138] The sums in the text express the _real de vellon_; to which
they have been reduced by Señor Clemencin, from the original amount in
_maravedis_, which varied very materially in value in different years.
Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 5.

[139] The kingdom of Granada appears to have contributed rather less than
one-eighth of the whole tax.

[140] In addition to the last-mentioned sum, the extraordinary service
voted by cortes, for the dowry of the infantas, and other matters, in
1504, amounted to 16,113,014 reals de vellon; making a sum total for that
year, of 42,396,348 reals. The bulk of the crown revenues was derived from
the _alcavalas_, and the _tercias_, or two-ninths of the ecclesiastical
tithes. These important statements were transcribed from the books of the
_escribanía mayor de rentas_, in the archives of Simancas. Ibid., ubi
supra.

[141] The pretended amount of population has been generally in the ratio
of the distance of the period taken, and, of course, of the difficulty of
refutation. A few random remarks of ancient writers have proved the basis
for the wildest hypotheses, raising the estimates to the total of what the
soil, under the highest possible cultivation, would be capable of
supporting. Even for so recent a period as Isabella's time, the estimate
commonly received does not fall below eighteen or twenty millions. The
official returns, cited in the text, of the most populous portion, of the
kingdom, fully expose the extravagance of preceding estimates.

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